Safeway / merchandise availability

Slowly but surely, Safeway is dropping all the brands that I like and replacing them with its own brand. For years, I had been buying Mrs. Butterworth's Lite syrup until, suddenly its availability was spotty at best. Finally, the store just stopped carrying it. It still carries the regular Mrs. Butterworth's and the godawful sugar-free stuff (I don't mind less sugar, but I do mind the fake chemical sweeteners). You might think it's because the demand dropped, but at the same time, suddenly a Safeway brand of "Lite" syrup showed up.

I went looking for Saran Wrap, which is the only brand of wrap that has the right amount of hold. Safeway's brand is awful. It has little hold. And Glad's is way too clingy. Guess which brand is missing from the shelves? Yep, Saran Wrap.

Finally, the store has dropped the Ruffles Reduced Fat brand. It's just like the Mrs. Butterworth's deal. Safeway still carries the godawful stuff with Olean. But just carrying the product with less of the bad stuff without a substitute chemical component doesn't seem to be in Safeway's DNA. I haven't yet found a Safeway brand of low-fat ripple chips.

But I am so tired of finding products I have bought for years and years just disappear. According to the company Web sites, these products are still being made and merchandised. Just Safeway has dropped them.

Yes, I do know that Safeway's profit margin is much higher when it sells its own brand. But I don't shop at Safeway to increase its profit margin. I'm happy if the company can stay in business, but I shop there to find products and brands that I like. I don't want to be sold on a similar brand.

It's like the time I told my husband to get pickles, and he returned with one type of pickles--not the brand I'd requested. "Pickles are pickles, aren't they?" he asked. Well, no. They're not. Different brand pickles taste different. Different chips taste different--and there is no other non-baked, non-Olean-laden, lower fat ripple chip on the market. Different syrups taste different. Different plastic wraps cling differently.

Comments

Awful customer service. The manager didn't care that I wanted to rent a carpet cleaner on 8/21/08 at 6:15pm. Someone was on a break and was suppose to be back in a half hour so I waited. That person never showed up. Nobody really cared that I needed help with this simple service. They acted like I was the problem, not them with their awful customer service. I am absolutely disgusted with those people who work there. Unbelievable.

My local Safeway store in Woodley, Cheshire has the most ignorant staff I have ever come across. They rarely respond to a salutation and NEVER respond to a 'Thank-you'. The special offers that are marked on the products are often ignored by the till-system and any confusion is treated as if the customer is the problem. I have even had the till staff make derogatory comments to the other people in the queue about me whhen a query is raised. Shocking. No wonder they have failed as a major supermarket. The one near me is always virtually empty.

Clearly you fail to understand that different market conditions will make the store carry a different variety of items. For instance, 2 safeways here within 30 miles of each other have drastically different items based on the customer shopping habits. One of the stores has a very large hispanic section, with a mere 3 feet of asian food. The exact opposite at the other store. If the one item you are looking for is not a good seller, chances are it will be replaced with something that actually moves on the shelf. A reply of "But I know 3 other people who buy Mrs. Butterworth's Lite syrup" doesn't really mean much when you buy this once a month. Four sales per month will not keep an item around. Chances are anything that you can't find falls into one of these categories.

I am employee with the 1956 store and i want to make a complaint about a new employee named luis who is a checker at that location. wether or not he is joking around, i dont appreciate him asking stupid and personal questions. like do you have a girlfriend, are you a virgin, and etc.

i have reported it to both customer service and management but nothing has really been done about it. but im not going to complain in terms of them. a individual who is a cashier/checker at store 1956 is prying his nose into us courtesy clerks business by bossing us/pushing us around about go backs.

The 8th and Linclon Safeway is outdated, has poor service, limited selection of products, old produce, slow service all the time. To make matters worse they have every homeless person in the city hanging out there in or near the parking lot. I am discused with this Safeway and will drive across town to shop even though I live 2 blks of the store. Clean this place up and hire new management. If not plow it over for a WALMART.